# CMake fails build from tarball; IGRAPH\_VERSION is missing.

**URL:** <https://igraph.discourse.group/t/cmake-fails-build-from-tarball-igraph-version-is-missing/1109>\
**Category:** Installation\
**Tags:** C\
**Created:** [18 February 2022 01:15 UTC](https://igraph.discourse.group/t/cmake-fails-build-from-tarball-igraph-version-is-missing/1109 "2022-02-18T01:15:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wcravens](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/igraph.discourse.group/wcravens/32/693_2.png) [@wcravens](https://igraph.discourse.group/u/wcravens)\
**Post date:** [18 February 2022 01:15 UTC](https://igraph.discourse.group/t/cmake-fails-build-from-tarball-igraph-version-is-missing/1109/1 "2022-02-18T01:15:13Z")

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I tried version 0.9.x tarballs from the release tags, and only 0.9.0 will build cleanly.

The rest fail on an error “…IGRAPH\_VERSION is missing”.

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**Author:** ![szhorvat](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/igraph.discourse.group/szhorvat/32/3_2.png) [@szhorvat](https://igraph.discourse.group/u/szhorvat)\
**Post date:** [18 February 2022 07:10 UTC](https://igraph.discourse.group/t/cmake-fails-build-from-tarball-igraph-version-is-missing/1109/2 "2022-02-18T07:10:07Z")

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You need to download the release tarball, not the tag snapshot automatically produced by GitHub.

When you download the releases from [Releases · igraph/igraph · GitHub](https://github.com/igraph/igraph/releases), look for the files named as `igraph-x.y.z.tar.gz`. These are the release tarballs. Do not use the files labelled as “Source code (zip/tar.gz)” as these are just snapshots of the contents of the Git repository, and are not ready to use as they are.

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**Author:** ![vtraag](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/igraph.discourse.group/vtraag/32/38_2.png) [@vtraag](https://igraph.discourse.group/u/vtraag)\
**Post date:** [13 December 2022 11:22 UTC](https://igraph.discourse.group/t/cmake-fails-build-from-tarball-igraph-version-is-missing/1109/3 "2022-12-13T11:22:03Z")

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2 posts were split to a new topic: [snprintf error when compiling](https://igraph.discourse.group/t/snprintf-error-when-compiling/1434)